Coalition intercepts 4 missiles as Houthis claim attack on Riyadh financial district
Key Facts
The Saudi-led coalition said its defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and other areas early on Sunday, November 8, and accused the Houthis of launching them. In response, the Houthis’ military spokesman said the group had struck the financial district in the Saudi capital, describing the attack as retaliation for earlier strikes in Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said debris fell on an Aramco administrative building in Riyadh after an attempted attack, causing limited damage, with no injuries or deaths. The two accounts combine reports of missile interceptions with a claim that a financial center was targeted, while debris struck an oil company building inside Riyadh. The announced accounts gave no details of any disruption to oil production or supplies as a result of the incident.
A witness told Reuters he saw shattered windows on several floors of an Aramco tower, one of the tallest buildings in the King Abdullah Financial District. The ministry described the damage as limited and reported no injuries or deaths. The tower is in the financial district that the Houthi spokesman said the group had targeted, while the ministry attributed the building damage to falling debris after an attempted attack. The coalition later announced that it had intercepted and destroyed two cruise missiles in Riyadh and the kingdom’s southern region. Riyadh and other areas had been named in the coalition’s initial statement on the interception of two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles early on Sunday.
The Houthi military spokesman linked the attack to strikes he said hit a village near Sanaa on Saturday and an attack on a market in southwestern Yemen on Friday. The Houthis’ health ministry had said strikes near Sanaa on Saturday killed at least 27 people and wounded 36, most of them women and children, according to an Associated Press report. The agency could not independently verify those claims, while the Houthi spokesman blamed Saudi Arabia for the strikes. In a separate report, Reuters said the Houthis’ health ministry had announced that at least 33 people were killed near Sanaa in Saudi airstrikes, and that Saudi authorities said they were investigating the matter. The casualty figures remain attributed to the source that announced them, while reports on Saturday’s events cited accounts of 27 killed and 36 wounded, and 33 killed.
The escalation comes amid renewed fighting between the two sides since July, after the Houthis resumed missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities, Reuters reported. The agency said the renewed hostilities had largely ended the United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 that halted fighting between the sides. In an earlier incident on October 14, Saudi civil defense said debris from two intercepted Houthi missiles fell in residential areas in Riyadh, injuring 4 people and damaging 15 homes, according to the Associated Press. That incident differs from Sunday’s, where the reported damage was concentrated on an Aramco administrative building inside the financial center. Reports on the Riyadh incident on November 8 did not announce any casualties or damage to oil production.
Separately from the damage on the ground, Aramco said the average realized selling price for oil was $95.20 per barrel in the third quarter of 2026, compared with $70.10 in the same quarter a year earlier. The Associated Press reported the two figures, citing a company statement; they relate to the average selling price during the quarter, not the impact of the Riyadh incident. Available reports on the attack did not say that Aramco’s production or exports were affected, nor did they announce any change in the company’s operations. The Energy Ministry’s announcement remains limited to damage to the building and no injuries or deaths. The next announced step concerning the strikes near Sanaa is that Saudi authorities are investigating them, Reuters reported.